Kaupthinghttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/kaupthing
en-usTue, 03 Mar 2015 16:12:36 -0500Tue, 03 Mar 2015 16:12:36 -0500The latest news on Kaupthing from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/elle-macpherson-wins-payout-in-suit-against-icelandic-bank-kaupthing-2010-12Supermodel Elle Macpherson Outsmarts A Bankhttp://www.businessinsider.com/elle-macpherson-wins-payout-in-suit-against-icelandic-bank-kaupthing-2010-12
Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:04:29 -0500Katya Wachtel
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/bb37544baba6c34945f81f00/ellemacphersonap032009.jpg" border="0" alt="ellemacphersonap032009" /></p><p> Supermodel Elle Macpherson just won a huge lawsuit against Iceland's collapsed, and formerly largest bank, Kaupthing, by using a little-known legal principle that is 300 years old, <a href="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=519487&amp;in_page_id=2&amp;ito=1565">ThisIsMoney</a> reports.</p>
<p>The win could set a precedent for others who want compensation from the failed bank, and who have previously failed because trying to win money from an insolvent institution is expensive and often futile.</p>
<p>Macpherson was a high-profile client at Kaupthing's Isle of Man branch before the bank folded in 2008.</p>
<p>After a nine month limbo for Kaupthing's customers in the wake of its implosion, only three-quarters of the firm's 10,000 UK-based customers received compensation after losing access to their funds in October of '08.</p>
<p>From <a href="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=519487&amp;in_page_id=2&amp;ito=1565">This Is the Money.Uk</a>,</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Elle Macpherson... had personal savings with the bank and wanted to offset these against her mortgage when she sold her London house in 2009.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">But because the mortgage was held through a 'nominee' company &ndash; to keep her address confidential &ndash; she was denied. Kaupthing's liquidators said this was because the borrower was technically a company, albeit one owned by Macpherson.</p>
<p>So she sued the bank's liquidators. Her savvy lawyers invoked a law that had not been used successfully by a plaintiff since the 1870s.</p>
<p>The ancient legal principle used by her lawyers <a href="http://www.isleofman.com/News/article.aspx?article=31428">is known as 'equitable set-off'</a>, and essentially proved that Macpherson and her company were "in-equity" the same, and therefore the bank had no right to refuse her damages.</p>
<p>Her lawyers said that Macpherson's win using their line of argument, could "throw a lifeline to a lot of people caught up in complex battles with insolvent banks and lenders."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=519487&amp;in_page_id=2&amp;ito=1565">For more details, go to This Is Money UK &gt;</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elle-macpherson-wins-payout-in-suit-against-icelandic-bank-kaupthing-2010-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>